Broadway and City Hall in New York

The artwork

At the bottom, on both sides of the street, pigs wander among carriages and passers-by: in 1819 they roamed Broadway freely, and the Swedish baron who drew this view had seen them knock over elegant ladies. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• Broadway in 1819 up to City Hall, with carriages, passers-by and pigs in the street.
• In a hallway, the street in perspective gives depth to the wall.
• A gift for anyone who has left their heart in Manhattan.

Axel Klinckowström, a baron and Swedish naval officer, arrived in the United States in 1818 with a precise task: to study American steamboats and judge whether they could serve his country's fleet. He stayed until 1820 and sent home twenty-five illustrated letters. He protested against the pigs left free in the streets, which he considered a health hazard. The pigs stayed: in 1842 Charles Dickens, strolling on Broadway, watched “two portly sows” trotting along behind a carriage.

The view looks north from St. Paul's Chapel, one of whose fluted columns stands on the left, up to City Hall, built between 1803 and 1811 to designs by Joseph François Mangin and John McComb Jr. On the cupola Klinckowström drew a cross that was never there: the statue of Justice was. Below runs the Swedish title, “Brodway-gatan och Rådhuset i Newyork”. The aquatint is by Carl Fredrik Akrell, for the atlas that accompanied Bref om de Förenta Staterna, the letters printed in Stockholm in 1824; the copy we reproduce belongs to the David Rumsey Map Collection.

For anyone who left their heart in Manhattan it is the right gift, for a hallway or beside a bookcase. And the pigs of Broadway, down at the bottom, are in no hurry to clear the road.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass